Kakarla most recently worked at Esoterix, Inc., headquartered in Austin, Texas, as their senior vice president and general counsel reporting to their CEO, and as a member of their executive committee responsible for daily leadership and management of the business.  Esoterix was a private equity-backed �roll-up� of approximately seven healthcare services companies and became one of the fastest growing clinical laboratories in the country, leading to its successful sale to one of the largest public companies in its industry on May 11, 2005.  Kakarla was involved extensively in the sale process and has since served on a five-person management committee focused on leading the post-sale integration of product offerings, billing, finance, customer service, human resources, compliance, legal and other administrative staff. 

�As Hersha Hospitality Management continues to grow, the company needs a seasoned leader to oversee the day-to-day administrative functions and shared services of our fast growing business,� said Jay H. Shah, executive director of Hersha Hospitality Management.  

�Naveen has invaluable experience in building corporate processes, performance management tools, and scalable shared services, having led the growth and integration of seven separate companies into one of our nation�s fastest growing lab services companies.�

Prior to joining Esoterix, Kakarla was a partner specializing in corporate and securities law at the 500-plus attorney firm of Jenkens & Gilchrist, P.C. in Austin, Texas, and was previously associated with Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP in Washington, D.C.  Kakarla has a juris doctorate from Cornell Law School with concentration in Business Law and Regulation, and a Bachelor of Arts from Austin College with a dual concentration in Economics and Business Administration.

Hersha Hospitality Management is a real estate management company of midscale and upscale hotels in the eastern United States with strong, national franchise affiliations.  
 
Certain matters within this press release are discussed using forward-looking language as specified in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and, as such, may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results or performance to differ from those projected in the forward-looking statement. 

Hersha Hospitality Management,
510 Walnut Street, 9th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19016
Phone: 215-238-1046
Fax: 215-238-0157
www.hersha.com